So it is now Monday September 18th. We have finished with our Magic Kingdom visits.
I have to work from 3 pm to 8 pm at the convention, so we have plans to hit Animal Kingdom EARLY (it is morning Extra Magic Hours on Monday at Animal Kingdom - normally opens at 9 am, but today, just for us-and all of the people staying on Disney property- it is opening at 8 am.)
Yeah yeah, once again, NO WAY the kids are getting up early enough to get there for 8. However, we did do pretty well. It was still before 9 when we got to Animal Kingdom and started making our way into the park.
This was my first ever visit to Animal Kingdom. High on my list were a few things that the kids could not do. But also included some things that the kids COULD do and I wanted to do with them. The plan was to hit the park and do the "must do" things before I had to leave around lunchtime. I'd then catch the bus back to the resort for a meal, to shower, and get ready to work.
As we walk in, we start towards the tree. We did stop and look at a few cool things, but moved towards Africa. We were going to ride on Safari. Both Kiki and I had read that seeing it first thing in the morning is the best way to actually get to see animals on the ride. It was REALLY REALLY hot and there was a chance of the animals all hanging back in the shade.
We saw elephants, a lion or two, a rhino that was intent on blocking the road (and another one off to the side), and several other really cool animals. Of course nothing like the real African Safari I went on in 1984, but a neat ride. We had virtually no wait to get on it, and the ride took about 20 or 25 minutes.
After we got off, we made a bathroom break, walked through the African village and bought a snack.
We then headed to the Tree of Life, where we wanted to see the It's A Bug's Life 3D movie. They did a great job - it was a good show. I knew about the hornets/bees "stinger" (in the back of the seat) so I was sitting up during that part of the show. Poor Philip, yelled at me (not in a made/mean way) "that chair poked me in the back!!".
Next ... Dinosaur. The Dinosaur ride was really neat with lots of animatronic dino's, loud noises, steam/smoke/etc, and a couple of surprises. The ride picture came out pretty funny, so the sucker that I am, I bought it. We also rode Triceratops - a Dumbo-like ride that spins in circules. I wanted to ride the Primevil Whirl which is a mini-roller-coaster of sorts with a spinning cart. But the kids didn't want to ride it, so we skipped it. The plan was for the kids to come back to the Dinosaur section of the park after I left. They had all afternoon to dig for dino bones in the dig site. I was on a mission to catch the rides that I could before I left.
Next ... Expedition Everest, I hoped. But, we got there and the line was 45 minutes long. I only had enough time for one long-line/big-wait ride and then I had to leave. We still had to ride Kali Rapids. The sign said that the line was 45 minutes long, we got in the line and the guy handed me a badge on a string and told me to turn it in at the front. I figured out it was used to guage the length of the lines. We walked the long trek down the qeue but ended up pretty much walking on to the ride - no wait at all. It was a fun ride - Kiki got SOAKED. My legs were soaked, and the front of my shirt, but Kiki and Zachary also got splashed all the way down the front. Thank goodness we were all wearing crocs.
It was time for me to head back. I walked to the front and left, While Kiki and the kids headed off in another direction in the park to finish their day of fun.
I'd pretty much dried by the time I got back to the hotel, but I was going to be rushed. I ordered room service, took a shower and got myself ready to go. I got to the convention center and my co-worker told me that I could go early (I'd ended up having to work all of the day before by myself because of an emergency). I worked until 6 pm - then went back to the room. I got there and Kiki and the kids were in the room, doing homework. We decided to go to the hotel food court for dinner - it was pretty good and they had a big selection. We all walked down to the Pepper Market for dinner. After dinner, we headed back to the room and had a fairly early evening. We'd talked about going swimming or something, but that just wasn't happening.
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